On April 1, 2026, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the latest version of its National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report, which purports to identify non-tariff barriers faced by U.S companies around the world.
While the NTE report has historically regurgitated unwarranted corporate complaints against global public health, consumer protection and digital rights regulations, the release of this year’s report takes on added importance given that the 2025 NTE report was explicitly tied to the imposition of supposed “reciprocal” tariffs by President Trump. In essence, President Trump declared a trade war on countries who attempted to regulate Big Tech in the interests of their people.
This year’s report doubles down on Big Tech’s wishlist, with increases in the number of global digital regulations being targeted compared to last year.
The NTE report targets, amongst other regulations:
| Type of Regulation | Number of Countries Targeted in 2026 (2025) | Countries |
| Data protection, privacy and other laws that regulate cross border data transfers | 34 (27) | Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, UAE, EU, China, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Korea, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Panama, Russia, Switzerland, Serbia, South Africa, Turkiye, Uruguay, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Paraguay, Thailand |
| Digital competition, anti-monopoly laws and regulations for revenue sharing by large tech platforms with traditional industries (news, film, etc) | 12 (6) | EU, Japan, Turkiye, UK, Australia, Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam, Korea, New Zealand, Canada |
| AI regulations | 1 (1) | EU (Note that the report also mentions various regulations governing issues such as procurement of AI by governments, AI related sovereignty policies, etc., in five other jurisdictions) |
| Digital services or other taxes | 8 (8) | Canada, Colombia, EU, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkiye, UK |
The Digital Trade Alliance (DTA), a global network of civil society and consumer protection groups, reiterates that countries must not use trade tools as weapons, to limit the ability of governments to impose essential digital economy regulations that seek to protect user privacy, ensure greater competition in the online ecosystem, or keep our online ecosystems safe.
We therefore call on governments targeted by the unjust U.S tariffs to stay firm in protecting the fundamental rights and interests of people by continuing to adopt and maintain appropriate regulatory measures to ensure a vibrant, just and fair digital ecosystem. Now more than ever, there is a need for multilateral cooperation to safeguard digital rights and resist coercive economic tactics that undermine public interest regulation.
